The Wind begun to rock the Grass | Affiliated Manuscripts

(Fr796[D])

ca. 1873

Original MS lost or destroyed | Mary Thatcher Higginson transcription

Poem enclosed in a message to T. W. Higginson.

Original manuscript lost or destroyed

The Wind began to rock
the Grass
With threatening tunes
and low –
He flung a Menace at the
Earth –
A Menace at the Sky –

 

The Leaves unhooked
themselves from trees
And started all abroad,
The Dust did scoop
itself like Hands
And throw away the Road.

 

The Wagons quickened on
the Streets –
The Thunder hurried slow –
The Lightening showed a
Yellow Beak,
And then a livid Claw –

 

The Birds put up the
Bars to Nests
The Cattle fled to Barns –
Then came one Drop of
Giant Rain
And then as if the Hands

 

That held the Dams had
parted hold
The Waters Wrecked the
Sky
But overlooked my Father’s
House,
Just quartering a tree.

+ Earth + Grass + Leaf + Tree + Nest + Cattle + Bird + Beak + Claw + Wind + Sky + Thunder + Lightning + Rain + Dust + Water
Recipient

Thomas Wentworth Higginson (b. 1823–d. 1911)

Writer, critic, social activist, friend; with the exception of Susan Gilbert Dickinson, Higginson is Dickinson’s most constant correspondent.

Inclusive dates of correspondence: April 1862-May 1886. Letters: 70; poems: 103.

Address: 16 Harvard Street, Worcester, Mass.

Distance Travelled: 37 miles